VIDEO REPORT: Corralling Work on the Next-Gen Nissan Titan

Boise, Idaho – Herding cattle, mending fences, hunting and fishing. These are the memories of summer for Nissan’s Rich Miller. A 10,000-acre ranch south of Boise, Idaho, was his playground. It was also the perfect spot to bring his colleagues who are working on bringing the next-generation Nissan Titan to market.

“When I was 10 years old, I remember it the most. I got to explore with my cousins, and we would go fishing in all the streams. There are three creeks here on the property, and I could go to any one of them and go trout fishing. That’s a great memory of mine,” said Miller.

Miller, who worked on the 1995 and 1997 Nissan Truck and the 1998 Nissan Frontier doing durability work, is now a chief product specialist tapped with corralling Nissan’s efforts to make the next-generation Titan pickup truck.

This summer, Miller took a team of Nissan product planners and marketing professionals to his family's ranch in Idaho. The trip put the team on the trails, in the water, over the mountains and up close with the people who rely on trucks for their livelihood.

"It was interesting that today Mary O'Malley came to visit us. She lives on the Joyce Ranch. She actually drives a 1997 Nissan Hardbody that has 230,000 miles on it and said that every day it goes up and down that mountain. She brought it over to show it to us to say hey, you built a great truck," said Miller.

Miller and Nissan know the U.S. truck market, and they know the stakes of this segment. Plus, there is the personal side of delivering a vehicle that his family and friends will respect.

"The nearest neighbor is 30 miles away. If you get stuck out there and there is no cell phone coverage, you are walking out. And it's a long walk out. So you need a vehicle that is a good quality truck that is not going to break down for them, going to last a long time and have good performance in the inclement weather. They want to have the confidence in that truck, that tool, that it will get them to where they need to be," said Miller.